For more than a decade, since 1996, James Krokar has been trying to identify and put into their historic context three 1605 Newberry manuscript maps of Ottoman fortresses. These maps depict sites in the modern states of Croatia, Montenegro, and Albania, but they were drawn when this region was part of the border zone between the Venetian Republic and the Ottoman Empire.

Those words, following closely on the heels of his more famous utterance “Make no little plans,” certainly apply to Daniel Burnham’s 1909 Plan of Chicago. The “noble diagrams” that Burnham, Edward Bennett, and their associates prepared one hundred years ago are among the most important maps ever made of Chicago. Though never realized fully, the dazzling vision and inspirational powe

Access to quality groceries is a major issue in many Chicago communities. In many areas supermarkets are few and far between, and available stores often have limited variety, especially of fresh fruits and vegetables. A recent study supported by the Chicago Community Trust mapped patterns of food availability in Chicago and the suburbs.

For over twenty years, Dr. Ruth Watson has worked with cartographic ideas and imagery as a major basis for her artwork. From emerging artist projects such as Planetarium at Artspace (Auckland, 1989) to Paradise Now? Contemporary Art from the Pacific (Asia Society Museum, New York, 2003) her work has consistently engaged with these concerns, particularly the image of the world.

The goal of Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) is to erase the GIS digital divide by providing access to geographic information technologies among traditionally marginalized citizens, in order to enable better participation in planning and policy tasks. Over the last decade, PPGIS initiatives have been undertaken across the world. Within the United States, PPGIS initiat

Sam Truett will examine parallel efforts by nations and corporations to transform and control the U.S.-Mexico borderlands at the turn of the century through maps. Focusing on the western borderlands of Arizona, Sonora, New Mexico, and Chihuahua, he will discuss how U.S. interests learned to see beyond the nation’s edge, and why their cartographic vision often failed them.